Helix

My role: UX Design, UI Design

Timeline: 4 weeks

Tools: Adobe XD, Miro, Figma

To view the prototype, please click here

DJ and Music Production equipment can be pricey. When throwing a party or event, DJs tend to rent out equipment through rental companies or borrowing through a friend if available. Renting DJ equipment through a rental company can be expensive, inconvenient, and frustrating. DJs and Music Producers want a way to rent out affordable equipment when needed. DJs already struggle to make money when throwing events, and the added price of equipment & delivery fees can negate their own profit.

Renting out equipment can also be a great way to test out expensive gear before purchasing, but doesn’t really make sense if the prices for the rentals themselves are overwhelming. For users who own equipment - whether they need extra cash or they have grown out of the equipment, should have a platform where they can rent out their equipment in an easy way.

Helix exists for DJs and Music Producers to have a quick, easy way to rent out equipment. Whether it be for a party they are throwing, to test out expensive gear they’ve been wanting to purchase or to record a DJ mix they’ve been meaning to post. This is a peer-to-peer marketplace, from one music lover to another. Helix allows the user to search equipment using their current location and request rentals from other members. Once the rental request is confirmed by the lender, they can start planning a time to meet. The lender also has the option to add an extra fee for delivery if they are able to drop off and pick up their own equipment. This adds an extra level of convenience for users overall.

In the user surveys, I surveyed 12 DJs and Music Producers using Typeform. I asked them 10 questions. Some important insights I received -

• Price, Quality, and location of the seller were most important for a user when renting out equipment.

• Median age range was 25 - 30 years old.

• 50%+ of users disagree with the statement "When renting out DJ equipment, I found the prices to be affordable"

• 63.6% of users rated their past experiences with renting out equipment a 3 out of 1-5.

• Users have dealt with broken gear, unprofessionalism, expensive prices & extra fees.

I spoke with 3 different DJs - 2 from Texas and 1 from California through Zoom calls. I came up with a script and had questions regarding where they usually rent DJ gear from, what concerns they would have renting from others, and what features they would like in an app for peer-to-peer DJ rental. All three were interested in the idea of the app and felt as though it would be useful to them. This definitely confirmed some features I was thinking about as well, like having a delivery option available and having an insurance policy built into the platform. This affinity diagram shows some main takeaways from the interviews.

Through competitive analysis, I found a mobile app/website called Fat Llama. This was the closest product that I came across that was similar to Helix - but there were issues. After some research, I noticed that this app is based in London and has not been marketed much in the United States - this gives Helix an opportunity to be based in the USA without any direct competitors. I also noticed that there were issues with the user experience through looking at reviews on their App Store page.

Users felt like that app was deserted, and people were not responding to their rental requests or messages. This led me to come up with different features to solve these problems. Besides Fat Llama, there are rental companies that I researched around my area in NYC. Being a DJ myself, I know that rental companies charge high fees for delivery and the rental itself - but this was also confirmed with user surveys & interviews.

I created two user personas - one is Tay, who is a user who is interested in renting equipment to practice with and use for parties she throws. The other user persona is Kevin, who is interested in renting out his own equipment on the app.

To help break down which features were more important, I used the MoSCoW method. I categorized features into Must Have, Should Have, Could Have & Won’t Have. This helped figure out what was absolutely necessary to have based on user needs for this initial version of Helix.

Before sketching, I came up with a sitemap that helped visualize the content and pages needed for the app.

Once I completed the sitemap, I started sketching on pen and paper each frame and thinking about how I was going to design the app. I sketched out four different layout options for each frame, pinning the best suited at the end of the process. Sketching allowed me to focus mainly on the layout and flow of each frame. After sketching, I recreated them on Adobe XD and did usability tests throughout the process, reiterating the designs constantly and eventually, they became high-fidelity prototypes.

Helix's style guide consists of logos, icons, custom iconography, color palette, typography, forms, buttons & menus.

To view the full prototype, please click here